I appear to be allergic to my dissertation.

[EccentricaGallumbits]

Evry time I set aside a day to do some work on the damned thing I come down with something.

crippling period pain, migraine, headaches, diarrhoea, back ache and today - the beginnigs of a cold and a horribly painful right tonsil.

How am I supposed to write it when my body keeps falling apart?

How much of it have you already done??

I hae critiqued 5 papers. need to do another 5 before actually starting to write properly.

I have exams I need to revise for and this needs to be done by beginnnig of june.

plenty of time but i feel like crap.

tonsil really hurts.

so in answer i have't actually done any.

whats your topic?

( This time last year I was doing mine and never felt so stressed in all my life)

Teenagers experiences of maternity services.

I don't care. I don't like teenagers. I don't want to know what services are provided, how they are accessed, what teenagers think, what midwives think, what outcomes are affcted. I. Don't. Care.

well i do really but just not right now.

Never ever again.

Mine was Posttraumatic Stress Disorder following Childbirth.

I spent 6 months of my life on the bloody thing.

I share your pain.

Have you done a large piece of work like this before??
I found it helped to 'break down' my dissertation into 'small essays' otherwise I felt as if I wanted to kill someone. Have you found your 'critique tool' etc (all that bolllocks...)

hmmmm that could work.....what mark did you get? is it for sale?

tbh- its not a brilliant piece of work- however I did get 68% for it. I really rushed the last part of it (conclusion - because I really had lost the will to live and I had another assignment due in on the same day which was more important to pass than the dissertation believe it or not!!)

My critiquing was poor ( I feel) and you can really tell that I lost interest in it.

Because it would take so long to get ethical approval for our my research (which I would never have the capacity/ability to do myself anyway) I had to do an 'extended literature review' which was basically reviewing articles and reporting the findings etc.

I will email it to you if you want to have a look.

I also have three books which really helped -

'doing a literature review in health and social care by Helen aveyard. ( I would never have completed my disseration without this book- it was like my bible for 6 months)

How to read a paper. By Trisha Greenhalgh

The pocket guide to critical appraisal by Iain Crombie.

I dont mind posting them to you to borrow if you think they may help? ( as I say- I share your pain)

That's very kind. and in my weakened state has actually made me well up a little.

will ask for those books from the library (posting would be v expensive).

Mine is a literature review too. and I have got very very fed up with the bloody critiquing. I know what i am supposed to be doing and how to. just don't have the will to do it.

well if you would like to 'peruse' it for anything, then email me and ill forward it.
emmamike80 at hotmail dot com

Binging on wine and valium on friday nights helps also.